Kingmaking 101
Kingmaking 101
I spent this evening at a dinner party of kingmakers, people who are putting the candidates they agree with on the map, one by one.
Which means they are putting their ideals on the map.
After the spaghetti-and sauage, rum-and-coke, and garlic bread, came a keynote speech — how to make a policymaker.
- They identify a candidate they agree with. It might be a 21-year-old college grad running for city council, or an opponent of Rahm Emmanuel in Chicago, or a Senator they’d like to see run for President.
- They organize phone banks and/or door-to-door walkers, and train them how to do it.
I’ve volunteered for phone banks twice now, it’s very interesting.
Most candidates, whether you love them or hate them, have access to phone bank services that let people volunteer to make the calls from home — you log into a website at the beginning of the shift you signed up for, and the website calls your phone, and then you’re in a conference call with about 40 other people on your shift. One of the organizers is on the call and walks you all through the procedure, explaining and answering questions for about 10 minutes.
Then the shift starts, usually a 1- or 2- hour shift. A phone number pops up on your screen, telling you the name and city of the person you are calling. When you click it, your phone is connected to a call going to that person.
That person’s name was obtained from a list of voters who are registered in a party that tends to agree with whatever cause you are calling about, whether it is a candidate or an issue. You ask them if they have voted already, and if not, encourage them to vote, and ask if they need any help getting to the polls.
UNLIKE the door-to-door walking or meet-the-candidate coffees, phone bank volunteers do NOT ask them to vote for your cause or candidate. You are performing a public service, even if you find out they disagree with you. Last time I did this we also had a pop-up giving the address of that person’s polling place in the upcoming election, so we could confirm they know where to go.
After the call, there are a few things to click — whether the person has already voted, whether they have died or moved, whether they need a ride to the polls, or babysitting or anything, in order to vote that day.
This has a big impact in getting out the vote, and also allows the candidate or party to clean up their database of voters, so they know if the party balance has changed in that district, and so they don’t upset families by sending mail to deceased loved ones.
It’s trivially easy to do, after the first 10 minutes of nerves, and has a HUGE impact.
Time is money. Passion can replace advertizing money.
If you can identify either a pro-vaping candidate, or a science-savvy candidate, consider calling or emailing their office or clicking on their web page to learn how to do this.
You may end up on an email list after that, which alerts you to in-person dinners, meetings, or get-togethers, whether formal or informal, where you can make friends who you share philosophies with.
Gratitude. Grr! Attitude! 